Lita (wrestler)

Dumas first became interested in wrestling after watching Rey Mysterio Jr., a Mexican-American luchador, wrestle on an episode of World Championship Wrestling's (WCW) Monday Nitro.[3][7] She traveled to Mexico in 1997 to learn more about the sport and how to wrestle.[3][6] Dumas financed her training by dancing in a club under the pseudonym Misty.[8] During her stay in Mexico, Dumas trained under numerous wrestlers, including El Dandy, Kevin Quinn and Ricky Santana.[2] Following the completion of her training, Dumas made several appearances with the Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre in 1998, under the ring name of Angelica.[2]

After returning to the United States, Dumas continued working as a valet on the independent circuit as Angelica.[6]She made her wrestling debut in a match against indie wrestler Strawberry Fields on 9 January, 1999.[9] She worked in Maryland Championship Wrestling (MCW), at one point managing Christopher Daniels.[2] She also made appearances in NWA Mid-Atlantic, where she first met Matt and Jeff Hardy, who offered to train with her.[2][3]

In April 1999, Dumas was approached by Paul Heyman, the owner and booker of Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW).[2][3] Dumas debuted in ECW as Miss Congeniality,[10] the on-screen girlfriend of Danny Doring.[11] Dumas later began using the name Angelica once again and made her pay-per-view debut on July 18 at Heat Wave where Doring, as part of their storyline, proposed to her- with a condom.[11]

Dumas was introduced to veteran wrestler Dory Funk, Jr. by ECW wrestler Rob Van Dam, and Funk invited her to attend his wrestling school, The Funkin' Conservatory.[3][11] Dumas attended Funk's school alongside twenty-three men,[6] graduated from the school in August 1999, and returned to ECW.[11] Meanwhile, Funk and his wife compiled video footage of Dumas and sent it to the World Wrestling Federation.[3][6] The Federation was sufficiently impressed, and on November 1, 1999, Dumas was signed to a WWF developmental deal. After six months with ECW,[12] she made her final appearance on October 23, 1999 at Re-enter the Sandman.[2][6]

Lita debuted on the July 5th 1999 Episode of WWF Monday Night Raw, from Fayetteville, North Carolina as part of the Godfathers' Ho-Train.[13]

After honing her skills at the Memphis Championship Wrestling (MCW) developmental territory, Dumas was given the ring name Lita and paired with luchador Essa Rios. Lita and Rios made their WWF debut on the February 13, 2000 episode of Sunday Night Heat, where Rios was booked to win the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship from Gillberg (it was only by watching the episode that the two learned their new ring names, decided post-production). Lita mimicked his moves, notably the moonsault and hurricanrana, immediately after he had performed them on an opponent.[2] Essa Rios and Lita had a feud with Eddie Guerrero and Chyna which led to a European title match between Ríos and then-champion Guerrero at Backlash. In May 2000, a storyline was developed in which Lita found Rios cavorting with The Godfather and his "hos", causing tension between them.[2] Rios eventually turned on Lita by powerbombing her after she inadvertently cost him a match with the Hardy Boyz coming to her rescue.

As a member of Team Xtreme, Lita developed a more "alternative" image, wearing baggy pants with a thong, which was hiked up high above her pants, clearly exposed- right after she joined Team Xtreme, her popularity skyrocketed.[14] During her time with Team Xtreme, Lita became the only female to ever be physically involved in Tables, Ladders, and Chairs matches in the WWF, effectively interfering at TLC I at Summerslam and TLC II at WrestleMania X-Seven on the Hardy Boyz’ behalf- but her interference was often short lived as she was brutally Speared at ringside by Edge and 3-D’ed by the Dudley Boyz.[15]

In June 2000, Team Xtreme began a storyline with T & A (Test and Albert), with Lita engaging in a rivalry with their manager, Trish Stratus The rivalry developed into an off and on long-term feud between the two women that lasted until Stratus retired in 2006. The storyline ended shortly after Fully Loaded, where Lita pinned Stratus in a six-person intergender tag team match. The two rivals were then part of the main event of the July 31, 2000 edition of Raw in Lita's hometown of Atlanta, which was a tag team match between Lita & The Rock vs Stratus & Triple H, which Lita and The Rock won.[11] Subsequently, Lita began feuding with WWF Women's Champion Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley.[3] In the main event of the August 21, 2000 episode of Raw is War (her second main event in 3 weeks), Lita defeated Stephanie with a moonsault to win the Women's Championship for the first time.

Lita held the Women's Championship for seventy-three days which included retaining her title in a hardcore match against Jacqueline on October 9.[16] In the course of her reign, Lita became embroiled in the storyline feud between the Hardy Boyz and Edge and Christian. In retaliation for her frequent interference in their matches, Edge and Christian cost Lita the Women's Championship by side-slamming her into the mat, helping Ivory to defeat her in a four-way match on the November 2 episode of SmackDown! Ivory was in a conservative-based stable named Right to Censor at that time, which targeted Lita for her attire and moves. Lita attempted to regain the title on several occasions, wrestling Ivory in a match at Survivor Series where Ivory cut Lita's lower forehead open with her boot heel and she bled heavily, and then another match at Rebellion but Lita was thwarted on each occasion by Stevie Richards, Ivory's mentor. She spent the remainder of the year in a storyline with would-be suitor Dean Malenko,[2][3] on one occasion unsuccessfully challenging him for the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship. Even after repeated rejections from Lita followed by savage beatings by the Hardy Boyz, Malenko was undeterred in his quest to win Lita's affections.

Lita with the Hardy Boyz in 2001

Lita continued to feud with Dean Malenko in early 2001, and she defeated him in a singles bout on the February 19 episode of Raw is War with the assistance of Matt Hardy. Following the match, Hardy kissed Lita, beginning their on-screen relationship and turning their real-life romance into a storyline. On the April 9 edition of Raw is War, she took part in another WWF main event as part of Team Xtreme against a tag team of Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley and the Two Man Power Trip (Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H). They won the match, but Lita took a brutal beating after the match, where she was Pedigreed by Triple H, and Austin hit her 4 times in the back with a steel-folding chair and finished her off with a Stunner; Austin had just turned heel and this was an attempt to generate even more heat towards the ultra-popular wrestler by beating up the most popular female wrestler in the WWF at the time.

In July 2001, Lita and Trish Stratus joined forces to combat Stacy Keibler and Torrie Wilson, members of The Alliance: Extreme Championship Wrestling and World Championship Wrestling wrestlers who were invading the WWF as part of The Invasion storyline.[1] At the Invasion pay-per-view on July 22, Lita and Stratus defeated Keibler and Wilson in the first ever tag team bra and panties match by stripping their opponents to their underwear.[1] Throughout The Invasion, Lita, Stratus, and Jacqueline feuded with Alliance members Keibler, Wilson, Ivory, and Mighty Molly. The Invasion storyline ended on November 18 at Survivor Series, where Lita took part in a six-pack challenge for the WWF Women's Championship, which had been vacated by Chyna earlier that month; Stratus won the match and the title.[17]

In late 2001, the Hardy Boyz began a storyline in which they were feuding with one another.[18][19] Lita refereed a match between them at Vengeance on December 9.[2][19] Jeff won the match with a scripted finish that had Lita failing to notice that Matt had placed his leg on the rope during Jeff's successful pin attempt. Continuing the storyline on the following episode of Raw, Matt defeated Lita and Jeff in a handicap match, shortly after informing Lita that both their relationship and the Hardy Boyz were finished.[20] On the December 17 episode of Raw, both Jeff and Lita were sidelined with storyline injuries following a hardcore title match between Jeff and WWF Hardcore Champion The Undertaker, when they were both tossed off the stage by The Undertaker.[1] The injuring of both his brother and ex-girlfriend led to a reconciliation between the members of Team Xtreme, and on the December 20 episode of SmackDown!, Matt faced The Undertaker but was also injured. All three members of Team Xtreme were then removed from WWF television for several weeks.

The Hardy Boyz, along with Lita, returned to WWF television in February 2002.[1][21] Lita resumed her pursuit of the WWF Women's Championship and made her in-ring WrestleMania debut at WrestleMania X8 on March 17, facing Stratus and WWF Women's Champion Jazz in a match in which Jazz retained her title by pinning Lita.[22]

On April 6, Dumas suffered what appeared to be a stinger while filming a fight scene for a role in the season finale of the television program Dark Angel.[6][23] The rehearsal required that she practice the hurricanrana that would be used in the episode, however, the stunt double Dumas was working with dropped her as she swung through the move, causing her to land on her neck and shoulders.[1][24] After she underwent a CAT scan, it was revealed that she had suffered three cracks in her vertebrae, necessitating surgery.[2][25] On April 30, Dumas underwent neck surgery under Dr. Lloyd Youngblood, during which he used a section of her hip to fuse her C5 and C6 vertebrae together. She spent the subsequent year rehabilitating, making appearances on Sunday Night Heat as a color commentator, beginning in October 2002.[24][26] During her time recovering, Matt and Jeff split thus ending Team Xtreme; Jeff would leave the WWE the following year and Matt would move to Smackdown.

On the April 21, 2003, episode of Raw, as part of a new storyline, she was fired from her position on commentary by general manager Eric Bischoff after she rejected his advances and his request that she follow in the footsteps of SmackDown!'s Torrie Wilson and pose for Playboy.[2][24] She returned to the ring after an absence of seventeen months on the September 15 episode of Raw, saving Trish Stratus from a beating at the hands of Molly Holly and Gail Kim.[1][2] Co-general manager Stone Cold Steve Austin later explained to Eric Bischoff that he had rehired Lita. Lita and Stratus went on to defeat Holly and Kim in a tag team match on September 21 at Unforgiven. Lita feuded with Holly into late 2003, unsuccessfully challenging her for the Women's Championship on November 16 at Survivor Series.[2] On the November 17 episode of Raw, Lita and Matt Hardy were reunited after Hardy was moved from SmackDown! to Raw.[27] Continuing the storyline, Holly interrupted as Hardy was about to propose to Lita, challenging the duo to face her and Bischoff in an intergender tag team match later that evening.[27] Bischoff later added the stipulation that Lita would earn a title shot if she won but would be fired if she lost.[27] Hardy and Lita lost the match after Hardy refused to tag in, with Hardy berating Lita for "selfishly" returning to Raw instead of SmackDown!, claiming that this showed that she cared more about the Women's Championship than about him.[27] Lita was rehired later that evening when Christian informed her that he had used his Survivor Series favor to get Bischoff to reinstate her.[2] One week later, Lita lost to Victoria in the first ever women's steel cage match in WWE history, due to interference from Hardy.[28]

As Lita and Christian appeared to be developing an on-screen relationship, so did Stratus and Chris Jericho.[2] Subsequently, Stratus and Lita participated in an intergender tag team match as partners on the December 1 episode of Raw. After the match, Stratus overheard Jericho talking to then-heel, Christian, about who could sleep with their respective woman first.[2][29] One week later, Stratus and Lita confronted the men about their real intentions, leading to a feud between the two men and women which resulted in a "Battle of the Sexes" match at Armageddon, which the women lost. A rematch ended in a no contest the next night. On February 23, 2004, Lita was involved in a fatal-4-way elimination match for the Women's Championship which also included Molly Holly, Jazz, and Victoria, who won the match.[30]

Lita competed in the women's division throughout early 2004, winning a battle royal to become the number one contender for the Women's Championship on the April 5 episode of Raw. Victoria defeated Lita to retain the Women's Championship at Backlash on April 18. The next night on Raw, Lita was reunited with Matt Hardy when Hardy attacked Kane in an attempt to prevent him from harming Lita, beginning a new storyline involving the trio.[31] In the following weeks, Kane began repeatedly assaulting Hardy and attempting to seduce Lita. During the course of the storyline, he kidnapped Lita and held her tied up backstage,[31] and he persuaded Eric Bischoff to give her a title shot at Bad Blood on June 13, where she was defeated by Trish Stratus in a Fatal Four Way match that also included Gail Kim and defending champion Victoria. The next night on Raw, Lita revealed that she was pregnant.[31] One week later, it appeared that Hardy was going to propose to Lita, but he was interrupted by Kane, who claimed to be the father of Lita's child.[2] Two months later, it was revealed that Kane was, in fact, the father. Hardy and Kane feuded for several months, culminating in a "Till Death Do Us Part" match on August 15 at SummerSlam, with the stipulation that Lita would be obliged to marry the winner of the match.[32] Kane won the match, leading to he and a reluctant Lita marrying one another on the August 23 episode of Raw.[2] Despite being married to Kane, Lita thwarted him during his matches, constantly aiding his opponents. On the September 13 episode of Raw, Lita miscarried after Gene Snitsky struck Kane with a chair, resulting in him falling on Lita.[33] The miscarriage led to Lita and Kane joining forces in order to take revenge on Snitsky.[2]

With the pregnancy storyline over, Lita returned to the women's division in November 2004. She began a feud with Trish Stratus, who had constantly degraded her during her pregnancy storyline. When Stratus referred to her as "chubby" because of her weight gain, she retaliated by attacking Stratus backstage due to no longer carrying a child. Lita challenged Stratus to a Women's Championship match at Survivor Series, however, due to the months of humiliation and being verbally berated by Stratus, Lita was more concerned with doing as much damage as possible, and she broke Stratus's nose during the match and attacked her with a chair, leading to her disqualification. This intense and violent match involved levels of physicality that had not been seen before in the women's division.[34] The feud continued, and on December 6, Lita defeated Stratus in the main event of Raw to win her second WWE Women's Championship.[34][35] During the course of the match, Lita botched a suicide dive to the outside when she over rotated by a fraction, barely escaping serious injury.[35] This move was later used in the buildup to the title rematch she was booked for at New Year's Revolution against Stratus, who claimed, "Lita had to practically kill herself, just to beat me". In the course of the match, Lita legitmately tore her left ACL after executing a Thesz press off the ring apron, which left her unable to properly continue the match and led to a rushed finish, in which Stratus reclaimed the title.[2][36]

Lita returned to WWE television in March 2005, mentoring Christy Hemme, who was in the midst of a storyline with Stratus that featured a title match between them at WrestleMania 21.[2] Despite Lita's coaching, Hemme was defeated by Stratus.[37] Lita continued to feud with Stratus by proxy over the following weeks, with Kane defeating Stratus' companion, Viscera, at Backlash on May 1.[38]

The relationship between Lita and Kane lasted until the May 16 episode of Raw, when Lita turned on Kane, helping Edge defeat him in the finals of the Raw Gold Rush Tournament, turning heel for the first time in her career.[2] On the May 30 episode of Raw, Lita announced that she had filed for divorce, and said things such as Kane was like a 4th grader in the bedroom, that she would not have to deal with things such as his sweaty body, the "stupid little" laugh he does, and their wedding ring being flushed down a toilet.[39] She then attempted to marry Edge on the June 20 episode of Raw, but the marriage ceremony was interrupted by a vengeful Kane, who emerged from beneath the ring, destroyed the ceremony, and as Edge and Lita escaped from the ring, Kane tombstoned their priest.[40] The storyline with Kane ended shortly thereafter.

Off-screen, at this time, Dumas had been involved with Matt Hardy romantically, but began an affair with Adam Copeland (Edge), who was one of Hardy's closest friends.[2][6] WWE then began to use the real-life issues between the three as an on-screen storyline.[6] In April, Hardy was released from WWE for revealing the entire incident on his blog,[41] only to be rehired several months later under constant outcry from fans from shows and pay-per-views every week for months on end. Lita had been one of the most popular performers in the WWE since the beginning of her association with the Hardy Boyz in 2000 and after Hardy was fired in April, her popularity had taken a massive dive. Starting with a RAW event at Madison Square Garden where after hobbling to the ring on a crutch to do a segment with heel Trish Stratus, she was booed heavily and fans chanted "You screwed Matt!" and "We want Matt!"[42]- and Lita was still a face at this time. The booing and jeering got so bad that Stratus, angered by the abuse went off script and berated the crowd- and after the segment Dumas was shaken by the experience. Hardy was rehired in July (by which time Lita had turned heel) and would engage in a three-month feud with Edge, while Lita, awkwardly watching and sometiimes interfering in these matches from ringside continued to act as Edge's valet. On the October 3 episode of Raw, Edge, with the assistance of Lita, defeated Hardy in a ladder match, and Hardy was obligated to leave Raw as a stipulation of the match, ending their feud.[2] Hardy went to Smackdown!, and Edge defeated John Cena to win the WWE Championship on January 8 at New Year's Revolution.[43] [44][45]

In an interview conducted after the event, on WWE.com, Edge announced that he and Lita would have "hot, unbridled sex" in the middle of the ring on Raw the following night to celebrate his victory. On Raw that night in the family-friendly amusement park town of Hershey, Pennsylvania, Edge held up to that promise by engaging in foreplay with Lita in a bed inside the ring until they were interrupted by Ric Flair, who called Edge a disgrace and "that he was horrible in the sack."[46] Flair, however, ended up on the receiving end of a con-chair-to on the announcers' table until Cena came out to Flair's aid and performed an FU on Lita.[46] The "Live Sex Celebration" segment earned Raw a 5.2 rating,[47] the highest Raw rating in over a year,[48] leading Edge to call himself the "most watched champion ever".[49] In 2021, Lita revealed that she was unconforable with the segment, but WWE threatened to fire her if she didn't do the segment. [50] On the February 6 episode of Raw, Lita teamed with Edge in a loss to Cena and Maria.[51] She continued to manage Edge into mid-2006, frequently interfering on his behalf during his feud with Mick Foley. In May 2006, Foley joined forces with Edge and Lita, with the trio defeating Foley's ECW rivals Terry Funk, Tommy Dreamer, and Beulah McGillicutty in an impromptu six-person tag team match at One Night Stand.[52]

On the August 14 episode of Raw, Lita won her third Women's Championship by defeating Mickie James. She lost the title to longtime rival, Trish Stratus, at Unforgiven in Stratus's retirement match. At Cyber Sunday, Lita defeated James again in the finals of a torunament for the vacant Women's Title in the first ever lumberjill match. Throughout the month, Lita easily defeated James in several handicap matches, such as having one hand tied behind her back and being blindfolded. However these plots finally backfired on the November 13 episode of RAW, where James was finally able to defeat Lita after D-Generation_X squirted mustard in her face. At Survivor Series, she had her last match before her retirement, where she lost the title against Mickie James. She had become so fed up with the continued negative intrusion WWE fans had on her personal life and insults for 18 consecutive months.

Dumas made her debut for United Wrestling Federation (UWF) on April 21, 2007, where she served as a special guest referee for the match between Christy Hemme and April Hunter.[53] The following day, Dumas made her in-ring debut teaming up with Jerry Lynn in a winning effort defeating Austin Starr and Christy Hemme.[53] Dumas made her debut for Family Wrestling Entertainment on the April 28 episode of FWE Television, as a special guest referee for the match where Winter retained the FWE Women's Championship against Melina Perez.[54]

Lita made her in-ring return, for the first time in five years as part of an eight-person tag match for MCW Pro Wrestling in Joppa, Maryland on March 3, 2017, where she teamed with The Bruiser, and The Hell Cats to defeat MCW champion Sean Studd, Andy Vineberg, Rayo and Jeremiah.[55]

Lita made a special appearance on December 10, 2007, on Raw's 15th Anniversary Special by teaming up with Trish Stratus to rid the ring of Jillian Hall. Later that night, she had a backstage reunion with Kane, her former on-screen husband.[56]

She appeared on the November 1, 2010, episode of Raw in a backstage segment with Pee Wee Herman.[57] On December 12, 2011, Lita presented a Slammy Award to Kelly Kelly for Divalicious Moment of the Year.[58] Lita also appeared on the 1000th episode of Raw on July 23, 2012, defeating Heath Slater in an intergender no disqualification, no countout match with the help from the WWE legends who had defeated Slater during the past weeks, as well as the APA.[59]

On February 10, 2014, it was announced that Lita would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2014.[60] At the ceremony, she was inducted by her best friend and fellow wrestler Trish Stratus.[61] The next night at WrestleMania XXX, she appeared during transmission while she was introduced as part of the 2014 Hall of Fame class.[62]

Lita presenting the WWE Women's Championship on Raw in April 2016

Lita served as a trainer on the sixth season of Tough Enough, alongside Booker T and Billy Gunn. She appeared on the July 13, 2015 episode of Raw to introduce the Tough Enough contestants.[63] From October 2015 to July 2016, Dumas was a creative writer and backstage producer for the WWE on a full-time basis.

During the WrestleMania 32 pre-show on April 3, 2016, Lita unveiled the new WWE Women's Championship belt, in addition to announcing the retirement of the WWE Divas Championship.[64] Charlotte defeated Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks in a triple threat match later that night to win the title, becoming the first Women's Champion of the modern era.[65][66] She was working as one of the pre-show hosts for Raw, SmackDown and pay-per-view events. By December 2016, Lita was no longer with the company.[67]

Lita appeared during the WrestleMania 33 pre-show on April 2, 2017.[68] She was a color commentator for the Mae Young Classic, alongside Jim Ross.[69]

On January 28, 2018, at Royal Rumble, Lita made a surprise entrance at number 5 during the first women's Royal Rumble match, in which she eliminated Mandy Rose and Tamina before being eliminated by Becky Lynch.[70] On September 3, WWE announced that Lita would make her in-ring return against Mickie James at WWE Evolution, the first ever all women's pay–per–view,[71] however through October, James and her then ally Alexa Bliss started a feud with her and Trish Stratus (whom was scheduled to wrestle Bliss at the same event).[72][73][74] This eventually led to the announcement of a tag team match between the two duos at Evolution.[75][76] Just three days before the event, on October 25, it was announced that Bliss was pulled off the match due to a concussion she suffered beforehand and she was replaced by Alicia Fox.[77] At the event on October 28, Lita and Trish defeated James and Fox after Stratus pinned James.[78] The next night on Raw, in a 10-women tag team match, Lita, Trish, Natalya, Sasha Banks and Bayley defeated James, Fox and the Riott Squad.[78]

In March 2020, Dumas, along with Christy Hemme and Gail Kim, announced "KAYfABE", a new wrestling show which was inspired by true events and was to blend scripted drama with pro wrestling.[79] The production launched a crowd-funding campaign on Kickstarter in order to raise money for the pilot episode, however they were only able to raise $62,919.96 of the $400,000 goal.[80] Following the failure of the campaign, the team cited the financial impacts of the global COVID-19 pandemic as a reason for the campaign's difficulties and assured fans that the show would secure funding elsewhere at a later date.[81]